Memory architecture of a near-field communication device

ABSTRACT

A near-field communication device operates to transmit data by near-field communications techniques to another device. The near-field communication device includes a memory that stores a message to be transmitted in an ASCII format. The message is retrieved from the memory and transmitted using the near-field communications techniques in an ASCII format.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the priority benefit of French Application forPatent No. 1850888, filed on Feb. 2, 2018, the content of which ishereby incorporated by reference in its entirety to the maximum extentallowable by law.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure concerns near-field communication devices andmore particularly the storage of a message to be transmitted in a memoryof such a device.

BACKGROUND

Cell phones and other types of mobile devices are generally equippedwith near-field communication (NFC) interfaces which enable them toexecute electromagnetic transponder functions in addition to their otherfunctions. Such devices are particularly capable of emulating thefunctions of an electromagnetic transponder, be it of contactless cardtype (so called “card” mode) or of contactless reader type (so-called“reader” mode). Such functionalities increase the possibilities of themobile device by enabling it to be used for various applications, forexample, as an electronic purse enabling it to perform payments, toaccess services such as transport networks, etc.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a near-field communication device comprises a memorystoring, in an ASCII format, a message that is near-field transmitted inthat ASCII format.

According to an embodiment, the message comprises a static portion and adynamic portion.

According to an embodiment, the dynamic portion is in a restrictedaccess area of the memory.

According to an embodiment, the static portion is in a free access areaof the memory.

According to an embodiment, the static portion comprises the address ofa website.

According to an embodiment, the dynamic portion comprises data suppliedby a counter.

According to an embodiment, the dynamic portion comprises data suppliedby a logic circuit.

According to an embodiment, the memory comprises a first portion storingin ASCII the variable portion of said message to be transmitted, thefirst portion representing less than 10% of the memory size.

According to an embodiment, the memory comprises a second portionstoring data coded in hexadecimal language.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be discussed indetail in the following non-limiting description of specific embodimentsin connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 schematically shows in the form of blocks a communication betweentwo near-field communication devices;

FIG. 2 shows in the form of blocks a portion of a near-fieldcommunication device;

and

FIG. 3 shows in the form of blocks an embodiment of a portion of anear-field communication device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The same elements have been designated with the same reference numeralsin the different drawings. For clarity, only those steps and elementswhich are useful to the understanding of the described embodiments havebeen shown and are detailed. In particular, the near-field communicationdevices comprise components, not shown, for example memories ortransmit/receive circuits enabling a same device to act in card mode orin reader mode according to the situation.

FIG. 1 schematically illustrates in the form of blocks an example ofcommunication between two near-field communication electronic devices 10and 30.

Although the case where devices 10 and 30 are similar, for example, aretwo cellular phones, is assumed, all that will be described moregenerally applies to any system where a transponder detects anelectromagnetic field radiated by a reader. In particular, all that isdescribed applies to systems where one of the devices is dedicated tooperating in reader mode and the other is dedicated to operating in cardmode.

Devices 10 and 30 are capable of communicating by near fieldelectromagnetic coupling. For a communication, one of the devices, here,device 30, operates in so-called reader mode while the other, heredevice 10, operates in card mode.

Device 30 comprises an RF transceiver (RF Tx/Rx) circuit block 32comprising various electronic circuits for generating a radio frequencysignal transmitted by means of an antenna.

Device 30 emits an electromagnetic field to initiate a communicationwith device 10. This field is captured by device 10 as soon as it iswithin its range. The field is detected by circuitry 12 of device 10which are reactivated if they are at stand-by.

This translates as a variation of the load formed by the circuits ofdevice 10 on a resonant circuit generating the field of device 30. Inpractice, the corresponding phase or amplitude variation of the emittedfield is detected by device 30, which then starts a protocol ofcontactless communication with device 10.

Once device 30 has detected the presence of device 10 in its field, itstarts a procedure for establishing a communication, implementing thetransmission of requests by device 30 and of responses by device 10.

A message can then be transmitted to device 30 by device 10 bymodulating, by means of the circuitry 12, the field emitted by device30. The message to be transmitted is, for example, a message stored in amemory (MEMORY) 14 of device 10.

The message to be transmitted by near-field communication, for example,comprises a fixed or static portion, for example, the URL of a websiteor a first portion of this URL, and a variable or dynamic portion, forexample, an argument of the URL or a second portion of the URL. Forexample, for a message to be transmitted by near-field communicationhaving the following form: http://www.website.com/?d=12345ABC, thestatic portion may be the site address “http://www.website.com/” and thedynamic portion may be argument “?d=12345ABC”. The argument for examplecontains information to be transmitted. The message transmitted from onedevice to the other is a message coded in ASCII (American Standard Codefor Information Interchange) format. However, the dynamic portion of themessage to be transmitted is conventionally in memory 14 coded in binaryformat.

FIG. 2 shows, in the form of the circuits 12 and 14 in further detail,the near-field communication device 10 of FIG. 1.

Device 10 comprises a memory 14 where the message to be transmitted isstored.

More specifically, the memory 14 comprises a free access area 18 (USER)which can be accessed by all users, and a restricted access area 16(SYSTEM) containing data specific to the chip, the access to which isreserved to a restricted mode internally managed by device 10.

Device 10 may also comprise logic circuits 20 (LOGIC) which, forexample, include a counter. For example, this counter is incrementedeach time a device in reader mode accesses the message to betransmitted.

The static portion of the message to be transmitted is stored in freeaccess area 18 and may contain data in binary format (BINARY) or inASCII format. The dynamic portion of the message to be transmitted is,for example, contained in restricted access area 16. The dynamic portionof the message to be transmitted can thus be modified by all thecomponents of the device.

The data supplied by logic circuits 20 may be stored in area 16 and maythus be included in the dynamic portion of the message stored in memory14. These data may also be directly transmitted to the circuits of block12 without being stored in the memory.

Memory 14 mainly comprises data coded in binary format. Moreparticularly, the dynamic portion of the message to be transmittedlocated in area 16 is stored in binary format. Further, the datasupplied by logic circuits 20 are also supplied, and possibly stored, inbinary format.

The different portions of the message, that is, the static portion, thedynamic portion, and possibly the elements directly originating fromlogic circuits 20, are transmitted to a converter (CONVERTER) 22 ofcircuit 12 which converts, for each transmission, the dynamic portion ofthe message and the data supplied by logic circuits 20 in ASCII format.The different portions of the message are, for example, thenconcatenated to form the message to be transmitted.

The message is transmitted to a transceiver circuit (DIGITAL+ANALOG) 24which, for example, comprises digital and analog circuits performing themessage transmission.

Converter 22 generally corresponds to a conversion table, which costsmemory space. Further, each conversion step causes a delay for themessage transmission.

FIG. 3 shows, in the form of blocks, an embodiment of a near-fieldcommunication device 50.

Device 50 comprises a memory (MEMORY) 52. Memory 52 comprises, likememory 14 of FIG. 2, a restricted access area (SYSTEM) 54 which is onlyaccessible to the restricted mode, and a free access area (USER) 56which can be accessed by all users. Memory 52 may be a non-volatilememory having areas 54 and 56 located therein. Memory 52 may alsocomprise a non-volatile memory having area 54 located therein and avolatile memory having all or part of area 56 located therein.

Areas 54 and 56 each comprise an auxiliary portion 54A or 56A. Portion56A of area 56, for example, contains the static portion of the messageto be transmitted. Portion 54A of area 54, for example, contains thedynamic portion of the message.

According to the described embodiments, auxiliary portions 54A and 56Aonly contain data coded in ASCII format. The message is thus stored inASCII format in memory 52. Areas 54 and 56 also each comprise anauxiliary portion 54B or 56B corresponding to the rest of area 54 or 46.Portions 54B and 56B are mainly in a format other than ASCII, forexample, in binary format (BINARY).

Portion 54A corresponds to less than 10% of the size of memory 52.

Device 50 also comprises logic circuits (LOGIC) 58, for exampleincluding a counter incremented each time a device in reader modeaccesses the transmitted message. Circuits 58 are wired to directlysupply data in ASCII. The data manipulated and supplied by circuit 58are thus in ASCII. For example, the counter is incremented in ASCII. Thedata in ASCII supplied by logic circuits 58 may be stored in auxiliaryportion 54A or be directly transmitted to a block (DIGITAL+ANALOG) 60comprising digital and analog circuits enabling to transmit the message.

For same data, the ASCII storage space is twice greater than the binarystorage space. The message to be transmitted, for example, correspondsto 28 bits in binary format and to 56 bits in ASCII. Now, memory 52, forexample, comprises 1 kilobit or 2 kilobits of space. The increase of thespace dedicated to the dynamic portion of the message is thus negligibleover the entire memory as compared with the time gain advantageouslyprovided by the absence of a conversion step for each transmission ofthe message.

Further, the suppression of the conversion step enables to decrease thepower dedicated to the transmission. It is then not necessary to supplypower to the converter.

Specific embodiments have been described. Various alterations,modifications, and improvements will occur to those skilled in the art.In particular, areas 54B and 56B may contain data coded in anotherlanguage than the binary format, for example, in hexadecimal language.

Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to bepart of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit andthe scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the foregoingdescription is by way of example only and is not intended to belimiting. The present invention is limited only as defined in thefollowing claims and the equivalents thereto.

1. A near-field communication device, comprising: a memory storing amessage to be transmitted in an ASCII format; and a transceiverconfigured to radio frequency transmit the message by near-fieldcommunications techniques in the ASCII format.
 2. The device of claim 1,wherein the message comprises a static portion and a dynamic portion. 3.The device of claim 2, wherein the memory stores the dynamic portion ina restricted access area of the memory.
 4. The device of claim 2,wherein the memory stores the static portion in a free access area ofthe memory.
 5. The device of claim 2, wherein the static portioncomprises an address of a web site.
 6. The device of claim 2, furthercomprising a counter circuit configured to supply data forming thedynamic portion.
 7. The device of claim 2, further comprising a logiccircuit configured to supply data forming the dynamic portion.
 8. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a first portion storingthe variable portion of said message to be transmitted in ASCII format,the first portion representing less than 10% of the memory size.
 9. Thedevice of claim 8, wherein the memory comprises a second portion storingdata coded in hexadecimal language.
 10. A method for near-fieldcommunication, comprising: storing a message to be transmitted in anASCII format; and radio frequency transmitting of the message bynear-field communication techniques in the ASCII format.
 11. The methodof claim 10, wherein the message comprises a static portion and adynamic portion.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising storingthe dynamic portion in a restricted access area of a memory.
 13. Themethod of claim 11, further comprising storing the static portion in afree access area of a memory.
 14. The method of claim 11, wherein thestatic portion comprises an address of a website.